What to do?

[fenny666]

Hello all! Need some advice please.

I brought two juvenile garters about a 2 weeks ago and one is very timid (Jake)so much so that it spends all his time buried in the aspen substrate.It has refused food (tried pinkies,fresh fish,worms) although i'm not too worried as i expect he's still settling in.

The other snake(Snowflake (not my choice:()) spends much of it's time basking under the lamp and has just started accepting worms but only in the viv where i have found the aspen sticks to the worms and therefore some got swallowed.

What substrate should i use that can accomodate both snakes until they will both feed outside the viv?One that they can burrow in (for Jakes sake)and either inedible or safe if swallowed?

[guidofatherof5]

Nice to have you on the forum.

I use compressed aspen pellets for substrate. Some members use a producted called "Care Fresh". I've seen a product called "Yesterdays News" which is what it suggests, old newspaper.
Any of these products can get ingested.
Have you tried feeding in a separate container yet?
2 weeks is not a lot of time as you've mentioned.
I'm not sure I understand if you bought them or brought them?. Any idea how old they are if you bought them from someone?
Do you know what garter species you have?
Any chance you can post a photo?
Once again welcome to the forum and best of luck with your snakes.

[gregmonsta]

Greetings :D, I'm inclined to second the recommendation of carefresh. It's clumpy and if it does stick to food it tends to fall off when it reaches the mouth and smaller pieces are easily digested.
Aspen can be nasty and I definately don't recommend it for garters.
Repticarpet is also worth looking into ;) ... no ingestion risk and easily cleaned and re-used again and again. The heated area of my vivs are covered in this and this is where I feed.
If you monitor your feedings another good idea is to have a set of feeding tongs at the ready that you can remove unwanted substrate from the food item with.

[ConcinusMan]

Have you tried tong feeding?

WuE4lrgOR_4

Also, as suggested, you could try using a liner in your tank. Adding moss on top can provide some cover, as I have done here with my babies, and it won't usually stick to the food.

[kibakiba]

I'm with Greg about the carefresh. I also use it. My snakes enjoy burrowing in it and it does fall off when it gets to their mouth. As Richard (Concinnusman) said, you may want to look into tongs for feeding.

[ConcinusMan]

Personally, I wouldn't want the swallowing any substrate, but some are safer than others. Even with "safe" one's, I think it's best to find a feeding method that avoids ingesting substrate.

[Odie]

Hi, from Oregon, fenny666 :)